Six foam manufacturers have agreed to pay nearly $276 million to settle a class actionlawsuit over claims that they fixed prices. Direct customers will recover as much as 80 percent of their estimated damages. The settlement was reached on the eve of trial between the direct purchaser class of Plaintiffs and the final six Defendants who had not settled with the group. The six agreements total $275.5 million and will bring the direct purchasers’ settlement total to $433.1 million.

I will explain how the settlements will break down between the Defendants. About half comes from Mohawk Industries Inc., which agreed to pay $98 million to resolve the suit. Foamex Innovations Inc. will pay $60 million; and Woodbridge Foam Corp. will pay $50 million. The settlements also include $32 million from Future Foam Inc., $19.5 million from Hickory Springs Manufacturing Co. and $16 million from FFP Holdings LLC. The Defendants have already put much of those funds into escrow accounts.

There are still some individual direct purchasers proceeding with the litigation. The indirect purchasers, who are also still litigating the case, reached their own settlement with Leggett & Platt Inc. That company has already paid nearly $40 million to settle with the direct purchasers.